Dead Man (1995)

The critic praises Jarmusch's revisionist western for its incisive critique of the American West as a place of death and exploitation rather than opportunity, highlighting its nuanced take on violence, environmental degradation, and indigenous perspectives without romanticization.

The critic describes Johnny Depp entering Jarmusch's impressionistic, darkly deadpan vision of the frontier land in this elegiac, episodic and thoughtful Western. It subtly reinterprets the genre and delivers Jarmusch's most accomplished, if not necessarily his most accessible film to date.

The shortened version is called Jarmusch’s best movie, with quirky characters and familiar themes played out at higher stakes and greater purpose. The critic singles out Depp’s riveting central performance.

The critic defends the film against accusations of pretension, noting its black humor, thematic echoes of Jarmusch's earlier work, and effective use of quiet irony and visuals to suit the western genre, calling it as strong as anything the director has done.

The critic finds the film strange, slow and unrewarding, providing more time to ponder its meaning than actual meaning. He singles out the black-and-white photography for its moody loneliness while criticizing the Neil Young score.

The film begins with sensational grotesquerie that sets up high expectations for a surreal western but fails to fulfill them, turning into a quirky allegory with brilliant flashes amid philosophic ham-handedness. The critic notes its droll hip sensibility will delight some but induce yawns in others.

The film resembles a pokey stroll rather than an exciting ride, with piquant humor and eccentric mood but undermined by unassertiveness and considerable overlength. The critic praises the refined visual style and Depp and Farmer’s performances while noting the diffused impact and lack of narrative propulsion.

Jarmusch's fabulously eccentric western features Johnny Depp as a meek accountant traversing a hellish frontier with a Native American guide. The supporting cast, including a 77-year-old Robert Mitchum in one of his final roles, stands out.

Jarmusch's film is a bizarre, funny, almost mystical take on the Western that charts the sentimental education of clerk William Blake. It features deadpan humour, superb imagery from cameraman Robby Müller and a haunting electric guitar score by Neil Young.

Jarmusch's film is a quirky, revisionist western and road movie that follows an accountant turned outlaw on a spiritual journey through the American frontier. The critic singles out its poetic beauty, understated violence, haunting Neil Young score, and Depp's ethereal performance as making it a low-key classic.